Houses and People: The Construction of Living Arrangements

Abstract

As we get older, the houses in which we live have a huge impact on our lives. In this book we try to get inside the experience of housing by examining the ways in which people construct, and re-construct, their lives in relation to their housing. In later life people are likely to spend longer inside their homes and, increasingly, to find some aspects of their daily living arrangements difficult to manage. It is not surprising to find that studies are beginning to recognize the impact of housing on people’s health. Nor is it surprising to discover from our research that one of the great concerns people have in old age is that of where they will live and how they will cope with changes in their health or circumstances. For many, there is anxiety as to what the fit will be between their capacity and their housing; others, feeling freed from earlier constraints of work or family, are keen to develop new interests and live their lives in different ways.